Corner pad and blank



Oct. 6, 1964 M. E. DOLL CORNER PAD AND BLANK Filed June 24, 1963INVENTOR. MARTIN E. bou.

BY ammbwwww A T TUBA/5K United States Patent Ofiice 3,151,832 (IGRBIERPAD AN BLANK M'artiu E. Dell, Faiterson, Nil. Filed lune 24, 1563, der.289,955 6 (Ilaiins. (411i. 248-3451) The present invention relates to acorner pad construction for protecting the corners of furniture or thelike during shipping or other handling and more particularly to animproved trihedral corner pad and blank therefor.

It is usual practice in the shipping or other handling of furniture andthe like to package such furniture in crates or cartons and to providecorner pads of suitably folded paperboard material around each of thecorners of the furniture to prevent the corners from becoming damagedduring such handling. The most common type of conventional corner padsare those which comprise blanlrs folded into trihedral anglearrangements.

While providing some measure of shock absorption and protection, theseconventional trihedral corner pads have the undesirable characteristicof frequently becoming unfolded during handling thereof since the samerely solely upon friction between the side edges of the plies of thewalls of the corner pads. rior attempts to solve this problem have notproved successful solutions since the same require a greater amount ofpaperboard material which increases the cost and renders the sameundesirable due to economic considerations.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a noveltrihedral corner pad and blank therefor wherein the inner face plies ofall three walls thereof and portions of the blank defining such plieswhen folded have cooperating cutouts and protuberances for positivelyinterlocking the same in folded condition to maintain the corner pad inits trihedral angle arrangement.

In addition, these conventional trihedral corner pads have two of thethree Walls thereof of the required number of plies to provide thedesired shock absorbency and the remaining wall thereof of at least onemore ply than said two walls due to the manner of folding of the blanksforming these corner pads. in tms regard, applicant has discovered thatthe preferred construction for corn-er pads of this type is to have eachwall of the trihedral corner pad to be formed of three plies of thepaperboard material which will provide suficient shock absorbency formost uses. A conventional trihedral corner pad having thre plies in twoof the walls will have four plies in the third Wall and therefore anexcess of paperboard material is required which renders the conventionalcorner pad expensive to manufacture.

Therefore, it is another object of the present invention to provide atrihedral corner pad wherein each wall comprises three plies ofpaperboard material, which th ee plies of paperboard material are formedwith a savings of material and wherein the corner pad is less expensiveto manufacture.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a cornerpad blank incorporating the features of the present invention;

FZGURE 2 is a plan View of a triangular insert to be used with the blankshown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 through 5 are perspective views illustrating the manner offolding the blank and triangular insert shown in FIGURES 1 and 2;

FlGURE 6 is a front elevational view showing a corner pad incorporatingthe features of the present inven tion; and

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 7-7 inFIGURE 6.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURE 1, thereis shown a corner pad blank 16 of suitable paperboard material and whichincludes first and second upper rectangular panels Ill, 12 which arehinged together along a fold line 13 defining the adjacent side edgesthereof. A lower rectangular panel 14 is hinged to the lower side edgeof first upper panel 11 along a fold line 15 and a triangular lowerpanel 16 is hinged to the lower side edge of second upper panel 12 alonga fold line 17. Triangular lower panel 16 is separated from lowerrectangular panel 14 by a cut line ill and is of substantiallyright-triangular configuration and has the side ed e thereofcorresponding to the hypotenuse thereof extending from the lower outsidecorner of second upper panel 12 to the proximal lower corner of lowerrectangular panel 14.

First and second upper rectangular panels 11 and i2 and lowerrectangular panel 1 2- have diagonally extending pairs of spaced foldlines 21, 22; 23, 24; and 25, 26 therein, respectively, which cooperatewith each other and the hypotenuse edge of triangular panel 16 tosubstantially define a scuare. Fold lines 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, 26 arespaced apart a distance slightly exceeding the thickness of thepaperboard material of which the blank if) is formed and divide panelsll, 12 and 14 into two righ"- trlangular semi-panel portions 3%, 31; 32,33; and 3 's, 35, respectively, which form respective outer and innerface plies of the walls 36, 37 and of a corner pad all when blank if isfolded thereinto.

First and second upper panels 11 and 12 have cutouts 41, 42 formed inthe side edges thereof remote from the fold line 13 hinging the twopanels together. Cutouts 41, 42 extend from the upper outside corners ofpanels 21 and i2 downwardly for a predetermined distance and at apredetermined depth which slightly exceeds the thickness of thepaperboard material of which blank 14? is formed. The remaining portions43, 4-4 of these side edges from the lower ends of cutouts 41, 42 to thelower outside corners of first and second upper panels 11, 12 defineprotuberances which are received (FIGURE 6) in cutouts 45, 46,respectively, formed in the outside side edges of lower rectangularpanel 14 remote from triangular panel 16 and from fold line 15, hingingpanel 14 to first upper panel ll when blank it? is folded. Cutouts 5-5and 46 extend respectivel from the upper outside corner of panel 14adjacent first upper panel 11 downwardly and from the lower corner ofpanel 14 proximal to triangular panel 16 toward the lower outside cornerof lower rectangular panel 14 for predetermined distances which aresubstantially equal to the lengths of remaining portions 23, 44 of theside edges of upper panels 11, 12.

The remaining portions 27, 4-3 of the side edges of lower rectangularpanel 14 between the ends of cutouts 45 and 45 and the lower outsidecorner of panel 14- define protuberances of a length not exceeding thelength of cutouts 41, 4-2 in the side edges of upper panels ll, 12.Remaining portions 4-7, 48 are received in cutouts 41, 22 when blank 1bis folded and cooperates with remaining portions 43, 44 and cutouts 45,to positively interlock the inner face plies 31, 335 and 35 of the walls36, 37 and 38 of corner pad 48.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, there is shown an insert 50 of isoscelestriangular configuration which has a fold line 51 extending between theapex and the base at the medial portion thereof. Fold line 51 separatesinsert 54) into two right-triangular semi-panel portions 52, 53 whichare of an area slightly less than the area of lower portions 39, 32 ofupper rectangular panels 11 and 12.

It is noted that two triangular inserts Sll are formed upon theseverance of four of the blanks ill from a sheet of the paperboardmaterial and that the sides correspond- 3 ing to the hypotenuse of theright-triangular portions 52, 53 correspond to the hypotenuse side edgeof triangular panel 16 of blank 1% Therefore, a substantial savings inthe paperboard material is effected in the use of triangular insert St?for providing the third ply in walls 36, 37 of the corner pad 40.

Referring now to FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, the manner of folding blank andinsert 59 is illustrated. Firstly, the insert 54) is placed insuperposed relation to lower portions 39, 32 of first and second upperpanels 11 and 12 and panels 11 and 12 are then folded along fold lines21, 22 and 23, 24 to bring upper right-triangular portions 31, 33 intooverlying relation to portions 52, 53 of triangular insert 50 and lowerportions 39, 32 thereof. Portions 52, 53 of triangular insert 54) aretherefore sandwiched between the portions of upper panels 11 and 12.

Upper panels 11 and 12 are then folded upwardly along fold lines and 17into right-angular relation to lower rectangular panel 14 and lowertriangular panel 16. It is noted that fold line 17 is spaced upwardlyfrom fold line 15 a distance substantially the same as the thickness ofthe paperboard material. The folded upper panels 11 and 12 andtriangular insert 5t are then folded along fold lines 13 and 51 whichbrings triangular panel 16 into overlying relation to upper portion 3 oflower rectangular panel 14.

Lower rectangular panel 14 is then folded along fold lines and 26 tobring the lower portion thereof into overlying relation to triangularpanel 16 and to position the remaining portions 47, 48 thereof in thecutouts 41, 42 in the upper rectangular panels 11 and 12 and to positionthe remaining portions 43, 44 of these upper panels in the cutouts 4-4,45 in the lower rectangular panel 1 Corner pad 4t is thusly formedwherein walls 36, 37 and 38 are of uniform thickness and the innermostplies 52, 5'3 (FIGURE 7) of walls 36, 37 are formed by triangular insert59 which is formed upon the formation of two of the blanks it).

It is therefore believed apparent that a novel trihedral corner pad andblank therefor is provided wherein positive interlocking of all threewalls of the corner pad is provided to prevent the corner pad frombecoming unfolded and wherein savings of paperboard material is effectedin the formation of the corner pad.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

I claim:

1. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture or the likeduring shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising first,second and third walls interconnected and arranged to define a trihedralangle, said first, second and third walls each including first andsecond plies of substantially right-triangular configuration andinterconnected along a fold line corresponding to the hypotenusesthereof and defining outer and inner face plies of said walls, anisosceles triangular insert having a fold line dividing the same intotwo right-triangular portions interconnected along the fold line, saidright-triangular portions of said insert being disposed between saidfirst and second plies of said first and second Walls to define thirdplies therein, and a substantially right-triangular third ply disposedbetween said first and second plies of said third wall and beinginterconnected with the outer face ply of said second wall along a foldline corresponding to the lower side edge of said second wall outer faceply.

2. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture or the likeduring shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising first,second and third walls interconnected and arranged to define a trihedralangle, said first, second and third walls each including first andsecond plies of substantially right-triangular configurationinterconnected along a fold line corresponding to the hypotenusesthereof and defining outer and inner face plies of said walls, and asubstantially right-triangular third ply sandwiched between said outerand inner face plies, the inner face plies of said first, second andthird Walls having cooperating protuberances and cutouts in the adjacentsides thereof for locking the plies in folded condition for maintainingsaid walls in the trihedral angle arrangement.

3. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture or the likeduring shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising first,second and third walls interconnected and arranged to define a trihedralangle, said first, second and third walls each including first andsecond plies of substantially right-triangular configuration andinterconnected along a fold line corresponding to the hypotenusesthereof and defining outer and inner face plies of said walls, the innerface plies of said first and second walls having cutouts in the lowerside edges thereof and extending from the lower inside corner of saidinner face plies toward the outside corner thereof for a predeterminedlength less than the length of said lower side edges, the inner face plyof said third Wall having cutouts in the side edges thereof in proximityto said first and second walls and extending from the outside cornersor" said third wall toward the inner corner thereof for a predeterminedlength at least as great as the distance between the lower outsidecorners of said inner face plies of said first and second walls and thecutouts in said lower side edges thereof, and the remaining portions ofthe lower side edges of the inner face plies of said first and secondwalls and the remaining portions or side edges of the inner face ply ofsaid third wall having the cutouts therein defining protu berancesrespectively disposed in the cutouts in the inner face ply of said thirdwall and the inner face plies of said first and second walls to lockthese plies together in folded condition for maintaining the first,second and third walls in the trihedral angle arrangement.

4. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture and the likeduring shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising first,second and third Walls interconnected and arranged to define a trihedralangle, said first, second and third walls each including first andsecond plies of substantially right-triangular configuration andinterconnected along a fold line corresponding to the hypotenusesthereof and defining outer and inner face plies of said walls, the innerface plies of said first and second walls having cutouts in the lowerside edges thereof and extending from the lower inside corner of saidinner face plies toward the outside corner thereof for a predeterminedlength less than the length of said lower side edges, the inner face plyof said third wall having cutouts in the side edges thereof in proximityto said first and second walls and extending from the outside corners ofsaid third wall toward the inner corner thereof for a predeterminedlength of substantially the same as the distance between the loweroutside corner of said inner face plies of said first and second wallsand the cutouts in sm'd lower side edges thereof, the remaining portionsof the lower side edges of the inner face plies of said first and secondwalls and the remaining portions of the side edges of the inner face plyof said third wall having cutouts therein defining protuberancesrespectively disposed in the cutouts in the inner face ply of said thirdwall and the inner face plies of said first and second walls to lockthese plies together in folded condition for maintaining the first,second and third Walls in the trihedral angle arrangement, an isoscelestriangular insert having a fold line dividing the same into tworight-triangular portions interconnected along the fold line disposedbetween said outer and inner face plies of said first and second wallsand defining third plies of said first and second walls, and asubstantially right-triangular third ply disposed between said outer andinner face plies of said third wall and being interconnected with thelower side edge of the outer face ply of said second Wall along a foldline.

5. A paperboard blank foldable into a trihedral corner pad havingtriangular walls, said blank comprising first and second rectangularupper panels hinged together along a fold line defining the adjacentside edges thereof, a rectangular lower panel hinged to the lower sideedge of said first upper panel along a fold line, a substantiallyright-triangular lower panel hinged to the lower side edge of saidsecond upper panel along a fold line and being separate from and besidesaid rectangular lower panel and having the side edge defining thehypotenuse thereof extending between the lower outside corner of saidsecond upper panel and the lower proximal corner of said rectangularlower panel, said rectangular panels having diagonal fold lines thereinseparating the same into two triangular portions, said diagonal foldlines and the hypotenuse edge of said triangular lower panelsubstantially defining a square, the side edges of said first and secondrectangular upper panels remote from the fold line along which the sameare hinged together having cutouts of predetermined length and depththerein, and the side edges of said rectangular lower panel remote fromsaid first rectangular upper panel and said triangular lower panelhaving cutouts therein of predetermined length, the remaining portionsof these side edges of said rectangular lower panel being of a lengthnot exceeding the length of the cutouts in the side edges of said firstand second rectangular upper panels and defining protuberances sopositioned as to mate with the cutouts in the side edges of said firstand second rectangular upper panels when the blank is folded to form thetrihedral corner pad.

6. A paperboard blank foldable into a trihedral corner pad havingtriangular walls, said blank comprising first and second rectangularupper panels hinged together along a fold line defining the adjacentside edges thereof, a rectangular lower panel hinged to the lower sideedge of said first upper panel along a fold line, a substantiallyright-triangular lower panel hinged to the lower side edge of saidsecond upper panel along a fold line and being separate from and besidesaid rectangular lower panel and having the side edge defining thehypotenuse thereof extending between the lower outside corner of saidsecond upper panel and the lower proximal corner of said rectangularlower panel, said rectangular panels having diagonal fold lines thereinseparating the same into two right-triangular semi-panel portions, saiddiagonal fold lines and the hypotenuse edge of said hiangular lowerpanel substantially defining a square, the side edges of said first andsecond rectangular upper panels remote from the fold line along whichthe same are hinged together having cutouts extending uninterruptedlydownwardly from the upper outside corners thereof toward the loweroutside corners for a predetermined length less than the length of theside edges thereof, the remaining portions of said side edges of saidupper panels being of a given length, and the side edges of saidrectangular lower panel remote from said first upper panel and saidtriangular panel having cutouts therein extending uninterruptedly fromthe upper outside corner of said rectangular lower panel and from thelower corner thereof adjacent said triangular panel toward the outsidecorner of said rectangular lower panel for a predetermined lengthsubstantially the same as the given length of the remaining portions ofsaid side edges of said upper panels, the remaining portions of the sideedges of said upper panels and the remaining portions of the side edgesof said rectangular lower panel defining protuberances so positioned asto respectively mate with the cutouts in the side edges of therectangular lower panel and the cutouts in the side edges of the upperpanels when the blank is folded to form the trihedral corner pad.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,509,468 Anderson May 30, 1950 2,787,407 Lang Apr. 2, 1957 2,885,139Werner May 5, 1959

1. A CORNER PAD FOR PROTECTING THE CORNERS OF FURNITURE OR THE LIKEDURING SHIPMENT OR OTHER HANDLING, SAID CORNER PAD COMPRISING FIRST,SECOND AND THIRD WALLS INTERCONNECTED AND ARRANGED TO DEFINE A TRIHEDRALANGLE, SAID FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD WALLS EACH INCLUDING FIRST ANDSECOND PLIES OF SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT-TRIANGULAR CONFIGURATION ANDINTERCONNECTED ALONG A FOLD LINE CORRESPONDING TO THE HYPOTENUSESTHEREOF AND DEFINING OUTER AND INNER FACE PLIES OF SAID WALLS, ANISOSCELES TRIANGULAR INSERT HAVING A FOLD LINE DIVIDING THE SAME INTOTWO RIGHT-TRIANGULAR PORTIONS INTERCONNECTED ALONG THE FOLD LINE, SAIDRIGHT-TRIANGULAR PORTIONS OF SAID INSERT BEING DISPOSED BETWEEN SAIDFIRST AND SECOND PLIES OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND WALLS TO DEFINE THIRDPLIES THEREIN, AND A SUBSTANTIALLY RIGHT-TRIANGULAR THIRD PLY DISPOSEDBETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND PLIES OF SAID THIRD WALL AND BEINGINTERCONNECTED WITH THE OUTER FACE PLY OF SAID SECOND WALL ALONG A FOLDLINE CORRESPONDING TO THE LOWER SIDE EDGE OF SAID SECOND WALL OUTER FACEPLY.